Hinge



Aug. l2, 1941. s. w.' PARsoNs HINGE Filed April 5, 1940 2 sneek-sheet 1 I mem/bw STUART WJDARSONS S. W. PARSONS Aug. l2, 1941.

HINGE Filed April 5, 1940 2 sheets-shea 2 SWW/Wto@ STUART Wqzesozvs Patented Aug. 12, 1941 HINGE Stuart W. Parsons, NewBritain, Conn., assigner to The Stanley Works, New Britain, Conn., a corporation of Connecticut Application April 5, 1940, Serial No. 327,960

6 Claims.

The presentA invention relates t hinges and more particularly to an improved type of hinge particularly suitable for pivotally mounting a toilet seat and, if desired, the cover therefor.

The aim cf the presentinvention is to provide an improved hinge structure having various features of novelty and advantage and particularly characterized lby the f act that it may be readily applied to s'eats of different sizes and adjustable thereonin proper alignment with the openings provided for fixing same onto the toilet bowl.

The, construction of the hinge also includes im.` proved frictional restrainingmeans whereby the seat cannot be easily and deliberately opened and closed with such rapid movement as to cause damage thereto or to the porcelain of the bowl; `said means nevertheless permitting the seat to be readily swung and allowing same, once it has started on a downward swing, to slowly continue the downwardmovement.

A still further object is to provide a hinge wherein the weight of the` seat is so distributed that sagging thereof is prevented and the weight is fully taken up by the stationary supporting members of the hinge.A t Y A still further object is to provide a hinge of the above-indicated type which is simple in construction, economical to manufacture, and comprises relatively few parts which may be readily assembled and applied to the seat and readily adjustable if such adjustment is found necessary4 Other objects will be in part obvious and in part pointed out more in detail hereinafter.

The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combination of elements, and arrangement of parts which will be exemplified in the construction hereafter set forth and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the appended claims.

In the' accompanying drawings:

Figure- 1 is a top plan view of a hinge embodying theV invention herein applied to both the seat and cover of a toilet;

Fig. 2 is an elevational view looking Vat the rear end of the assembly view shown in Fig. l;

Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view taken substantially on the line 3-3of Fig. 1; 4

Fig. 4 is a side elevational View of the assembly taken on the line 4--4 of Fig. 3; and

Fig. 5 is a side elevational view of the assembly r taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 3.

Referring to the drawings,y the hinge is shown as applied to a toilet seat A having a cover B; these members being of any suitable construction and made of any desired material. Because Of.

the structural features of the hinge hereinafter pointed out, the rear edges of the seat and cover may be fiat in a vertical plane, thus eliminating any special cutting and shaping thereof.

*Referring more specically to the hinge structure, it includes similar metallic supporting posts I Il, each having a threaded stem I2 adapted to eX- tend through the usual vertical openings provided in the rear end of the bowl (not shown) and xed therein by any suitable locking nuts. About the stem each post has an enlarged shoulder I4 of greater area than the bowl opening and adapted to rest on the surface of the bowl. Above the shoulders le each post has a circular head I6 having parallel, vertically arranged, inner and outer flat faces II and I9 and a centrally arranged aperture I8 to provide bearings for a metallic pivot` pin Ztl. As seen in Fig. 4, the cross section of the pin 2c defines a major cylindrical portion 2i and a Vflat portion 23; the radius of the cylindrical portion being such' as to permit the pin to be readily journalled within the apertures I8 of the head I6, whereby a metal-to-metal contact is made and the hinge pin suspended between the heads.

To support therseat A on the hinge pin, the latter is of sufficient length to have its ends extending substantially beyondvthe outer faces of the heads I6 to permit the reception thereon cf metallic seatk pivoting members 22. Each of the members 22 includes a threaded stem 24 adapted to be screwed within a suitable threaded opening in the rear edge of the seat and in such position that each hinge member will be'respectively positioned in alignment with the outer face of the adjacent supporting4 head I6. Outwardly of the stem 2li each member includes an enlarged shoulder 2@ adapted to abut against the rear edge of the seat and overlie the stem opening when the pivot member is screwed into the seat. Outwardly of the shoulder 26 each member includes a circular leaf 28 having parallel inner and outer faces 2% and 3l and a central opening cut to provide a major cylindrical portion 30 and a minor flat portion 32. The major cylindrical portion 30 and the flat portion 32 of the leaf 28 correspond to the cross section of the pivot p in 2B, whereupon when theeleaves 28 are assembled on the pivot pin `2li they will be nonrotatablyhe'ld thereon and the pin andY leaves will rotate as a unit upon the pivoting of the seat A: I i

To restrain the rapid swing of the seat, the inner` face of each hinge member is provided with a cylindrical recess 34 in which there is positoled a Slightly compressible, nonmetallic friction member 36 having a central aperture 31 through which the friction pin 20 extends. 'I'he member 36 is in the form of a washer and is readily removable from the recess 34 to enable a replacement thereof if such becomes necessary. It will also be noted that the thickness of the friction member is slightly greater than the depth of the recess 34 and thus spaces the adjacent faces of the leaf 28 and head I6 a slight distance apart to prevent metal-to-metal contact therebetween.

To secure the hinge members in position, the outer ends of the pivot pin 2E) are threaded to receive thereon a pair of securing nuts 3S; the bases of the securing nuts bearing directly against the outer faces of the hinge leaves 28. To assure a tight positioning of the nut, the base thereof may be provided with a slight recess 40 having positioned therein a lock washer 42, and may also be further secured by a radial jam screw 44 adapted to engage against the hinge pin 2t.

With this arrangement, it will be apparent that upon proper tightening of the securing nuts 38 the friction member or washer 36 will have a full-.faced frictional contact with both the leaf and the head I6. By proper adjustment of the securing nuts 38, the frictional resistance may be such that the seat is self-sustaining at all times and in all positions, or itmay be such that a rapid swinging of the seat is prevented, although allowing same to gradually swing once downward movement is initiated. Moreover, when the parts are secured in place the compressibility of the friction members will compensate for any slight misalignment of the concentric apertures of the head I6 and leaves 28.

With the parts so secured, it will be seen that upon the swinging of the seat the pivotingmembers 22, ivot pin 20, and the securing nuts 38 will all swing as a unit due to the pivot pin being nonrotatably held within the leaves 2S, and as no relative movement will result between the pivot pin and the leaves, there will be no tendency for the securing nuts 3S to work loose. Also with the foregoing construction when the weight is `applied to the seat it will be transferred directly to the pivot pin and through the pivot pin to the heads i6 of the posts l0, and as there is a metalto-metal contact therebetween no sagging of the seat will result, and the entire weight will be directly transferred to the supporting posts lil. Inasmuch as the friction washers 35 are also concentrically mounted on the pivot pin 28, they will not take any of the weight, and squashing or distortion thereof is substantially eliminated and the only wear to which they are subjected is that resulting from the pivoting of the seat.

As pointed out above, the seat A is also provided with a cover B. To mount the latter, there is secured thereon a pair of pivoting members 46 of substantially the same construction as the pivoting members 22 in that each has a threaded stem 48, shoulder 50, and leaf 52. The shoulder 50, however, is connected to the leaf 52 by a substantially right angular connecting linger 53 extending upwardly and forwardly from the leaf to space the cover so that it overlies the seat. The leaf 52, however, has a circular aperture 54 therein through which the pivot pin extends; the aperture of necessity being circular to permit pivoting movement of the cover independently of the seat and the pivot pin. In like manner to the leaves 25, the leaf 52 also has therein a circular recess S for receiving a friction washer 58. It

lwill be noted, however, that inasmuch as the cover pivoting members are secured to the cover to be positioned inwardly of the head I6, the circular recess and washer are provided on the outer face of the leaves 52.

In order to finish the structure, a sleeve 60 is positioned on the pivot pin 2G intermediate of the leaves 52; this sleeve being of sufficient length to assure frictional contact between the friction members positioned between the leaves 52 and the heads I6. As usual, al1 of the metallic parts may be plated to enhance the appearance thereof.

As many changes could be made in the above construction and many apparently widely different embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the language used in the following claims is intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

I claim as my invention:

1. In combination, a hinge pin having a cross section defining a cylindrical portion and a flat portion, two spaced sets of adjacent members mounted thereon, each set including a hinge leaf having an aperture therethrough corresponding to the cross section of the hinge pin, whereby it is nonrotatably held thereon, and the other a fixed member having a circular aperture therein in which the hinge pin is journalled, said fixed members being positioned inwardly of said hinge leaves, and securing means positioned on the extending ends of said hinge pin and abutting against said hinge leaves, whereby said pin, hinge leaves, and securing means will journal as a unit in said fixed members.

2. In combination, a hinge pin having a cross section defining a `cylindrical portion and a flat portion, a pair of spaced fixed members each having outer flat faces arranged in a vertical plane, and a centrally arranged circular aperture therethrough in which said hinge pin is journalled, a pair of hinge leaves having inner flat faces arranged in a Vertical plane, and each having its inner face positioned adjacent the outer face of one of said fixed members, and each of said hinge leaves having an aperture therethrough corresponding in cross section to the cross section of the hinge pin, securing means positioned on the extending ends of said hinge pin and abutting against said hinge leaves, whereby said securing means, hinge leaves, and pin journal as a unit in said fixed members.

3. In combination, a hinge pin, two spaced apart pairs of hinge leaves adapted for attachment to separate elements supported on said pin and with the adjacent leaves of each pair disposed in spaced apart relation, a iixed device disposed in a line with the hinge leaves and between the respective leaves of each pair, a friction washer disposed between the adjacent faces of each leaf and each fixed member and partially and removably seated in a recess provided in one of said faces, whereby its opposite faces frictionally engage the opposite members between which it is disposed.

4. In combination, a hinge pin having a cross section defining a cylindrical portion and a flat portion, a pair of spaced fixed members each having inner and outer flat faces arranged in parallel vertical planes, and a centrally arranged circular aperture therethrough in which said hinge pin is journalled, a pair of hinge leaves having an inner face arranged in a vertical plane and positioned against the outer face of one of said fixed members and having a centrally arranged aperture therethrough through which the hinge pin projects, a second pair of hinge leaves having an outer fiat face arranged in a vertical plane and respectively positioned adjacent the outer f-ace of said fixed member, the faces of each of said hinge leaves adjacent the fixed member having a circular recess therein, a friction washer removably positioned in said recess and abutting respectively against the opposing faces of' said hinge leaves and the fixed member, the aperture through said first set of hinge leaves corresponding in cross section to said hinge pin, whereby they will rotate simultaneously therewith, and the aperture provided in said second set of hinge leaves being circular, whereby they may be rotated independently of the hinge pin.

5. In combination, a substantially cylindrical hinge pin, each end of which is provided with a iiat portion, a spacing sleeve centrally disposed about said pin, a pair of hinge leaves pivotally supported on said pin and having their adjacent surfaces bearing against said facing member, said hinges carrying a cover `on their free ends, a fixed member rotatably supporting each end of said pin, said fixed member being positioned outwardly of the adjacent hinge leaf, a second hinge leaf non-rotatably supported on each end of said pin outwardly of the adjacent fixed member, a friction Washer disposed between the adjacent faces of each leaf and each fixed member, and adjustable securing means positioned on the extended ends of said hinge pin and abutting against said second hinge leaf, whereby the washer between the fixed member and the abutting leaf may be variably compressed and Whereby said pin, second hinge leaf, and securing means are pivotally journalled as a unit in said fixed member.

6. In combination, a hinge pin, a pair of spaced fixed members rotatably supporting said pin, a pair of hinge leaves non-rotatably secured to said pin and carrying a toilet seat for pivotal movement with said pin relative to said fixed bearing supports, a friction washer disposed between adjacent faces of each leaf and each fixed member partially and removably seated in a re- 

